Well after doing Raventai's mods, I came to find out that both my fan clutch and radiator were on their way south. I tried the fan clutch first, but could clearly see when flushing the cooling system that there was sludge in the top of my radiator. My symptoms were the truck heating up to 205-210f on an 85 degree day while driving in town, and starting to get up to 210f on the same day as I would push past 80mph on the freeway.
The fan clutch helped some but when climbing hills, you could see that there was a lack of overall cooling capacity. It simply would start to climb and keep climbing until I stopped at 215f. Now the same test hill, 92f (instead of 85f), resulted in a 200f temperature that was stable.
I used the SUMOTOY instructions for changing the radiator but would add a couple of comments, one specific to swapping the earlier radiator into the 1995-97 trucks.
1) When removing the drivers side bracket from radiator near the frame rails, you go from below!!! I spent 15 minutes trying to do it from above like an idiot. A gear wrench is manditory, you will never get a socket in there or be able to do it with a traditional box wrench.
2) The 1993-1994 bracket is different than the later bracket. It comes with the earlier radiator so when you remove the late aluminium one, you will then have to remove the drivers side bracket that stayed in the truck and replace it with the one that came with the new radiator. Takes about 3 minutes.
3) The new 1993-94 radiator brackets use 12mm bolts to attach to the radiator, the original 1995-97 are 13mm.
4) You will need a 1/4" 12mm deep well socket (6pt), 1/4" swivel and 8" extension to remove/replace the passenger side hidden radiator bolt.
5) By following SUMOTOY's intstructions I did not have to move the condensor, remove any grill pieces or the headlights. All the parts you need to swap the earlier radiator for the later come with the radiator. It is a true bolt in.
6) Total time spent for me was about 2 hours.
Credit to VBCrush for posting the SUMOTOY from another thread. Helped me out quite a bit. Quote:
Hey I've done this 5 times in the last 5 weeks on my 94, 3 times in the field at below zero temps. Here's the short for the 94 (stock with plastic end tanks copper core). When you do this, you will end up with the DS radiator frame in the truck, and the PS radiator frame on the radiator (trust me, it's the fastest way)
- Remove battery and tray (12mm bolts x 8, 10mm battery and ground. maybe 13mm for tray if some previous guy got confused).
- Remove fan from thermo (4x12mm) and shroud from radiator (2x12mm).
- Remove top small hose with pliers
- Remove bottom large hose with pliers
- Remove top large hose with pliers
- Remove two trans line hoses, and snake them up high so they don't leak anymore fluid
- Remove lower bolts near frame (13mm gear wrench) on DS ONLY
- Remove top side bolts from DS ONLY radiator frame (2 x 13mm).
- Remove PS center bushing horizontal bolt thru the front of the grill (12mm - 8in extension with wobbly and 12mm socket while vice grip the bolt on the engine side)
- Remove 12mm long vertical bolt from PS only (you are going to leave the DS frame in the truck and pull the PS frame out with the rad). Move the PS frame toward the rear of the truck, and remove/install.
The fan clutch helped some but when climbing hills, you could see that there was a lack of overall cooling capacity. It simply would start to climb and keep climbing until I stopped at 215f. Now the same test hill, 92f (instead of 85f), resulted in a 200f temperature that was stable.
I used the SUMOTOY instructions for changing the radiator but would add a couple of comments, one specific to swapping the earlier radiator into the 1995-97 trucks.
1) When removing the drivers side bracket from radiator near the frame rails, you go from below!!! I spent 15 minutes trying to do it from above like an idiot. A gear wrench is manditory, you will never get a socket in there or be able to do it with a traditional box wrench.
2) The 1993-1994 bracket is different than the later bracket. It comes with the earlier radiator so when you remove the late aluminium one, you will then have to remove the drivers side bracket that stayed in the truck and replace it with the one that came with the new radiator. Takes about 3 minutes.
3) The new 1993-94 radiator brackets use 12mm bolts to attach to the radiator, the original 1995-97 are 13mm.
4) You will need a 1/4" 12mm deep well socket (6pt), 1/4" swivel and 8" extension to remove/replace the passenger side hidden radiator bolt.
5) By following SUMOTOY's intstructions I did not have to move the condensor, remove any grill pieces or the headlights. All the parts you need to swap the earlier radiator for the later come with the radiator. It is a true bolt in.
6) Total time spent for me was about 2 hours.
Credit to VBCrush for posting the SUMOTOY from another thread. Helped me out quite a bit. Quote:
Hey I've done this 5 times in the last 5 weeks on my 94, 3 times in the field at below zero temps. Here's the short for the 94 (stock with plastic end tanks copper core). When you do this, you will end up with the DS radiator frame in the truck, and the PS radiator frame on the radiator (trust me, it's the fastest way)
- Remove battery and tray (12mm bolts x 8, 10mm battery and ground. maybe 13mm for tray if some previous guy got confused).
- Remove fan from thermo (4x12mm) and shroud from radiator (2x12mm).
- Remove top small hose with pliers
- Remove bottom large hose with pliers
- Remove top large hose with pliers
- Remove two trans line hoses, and snake them up high so they don't leak anymore fluid
- Remove lower bolts near frame (13mm gear wrench) on DS ONLY
- Remove top side bolts from DS ONLY radiator frame (2 x 13mm).
- Remove PS center bushing horizontal bolt thru the front of the grill (12mm - 8in extension with wobbly and 12mm socket while vice grip the bolt on the engine side)
- Remove 12mm long vertical bolt from PS only (you are going to leave the DS frame in the truck and pull the PS frame out with the rad). Move the PS frame toward the rear of the truck, and remove/install.